


Indulge

by hikanyan



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/M, Female Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Hurt/Comfort, Miqo'te Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), My First AO3 Post, Post-Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood, not sure what else to post tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 15:55:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20762975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hikanyan/pseuds/hikanyan
Summary: In a quiet corner of house fortemps, estinien finds comfort in their partner by simply holding their soft, but scar riddled hands.taken place sometime after 4.5 but before 5.0





	Indulge

**Author's Note:**

> uhh, i guess this is my first time posting on here! anyway, i hope you guys enjoy _(:3

it's an all too rare occurrence when Estinien sees Sere, no less talking or even staying around for long. He's always gone before their conversation evolves past simple exchanges. It's not unlike him though, he has things to do, and he hardly spares being idle for too long. Of course, she never really goes to seek him out, he often comes to her like a cat who's been away from home for too long. But he's been there through it all while she may not have known.

And so he found her in the blithering cold that is Ishgard's winter. In a place she calls home. 

She welcomed him, bright ruby eyes and a crescent moon smile. Her arms curled around his neck and bent his knees to accommodate for her height until he lifted her up off the floor. Sere giggled, her miqo'te ears wiggled and tailed swished in excitement, at least he assumed so. He pressed his face into her neck careful of how she pressed against him. They exchanged no words, but the single glint in her eyes was enough for him.

He missed her dearly.

It is not too long after his arrival did they settle near the hearth, his armor gone and occupying some corner of the roomーher room, he should note it felt more lived in than it used to. There are knick knacks scattered on the shelves, clothes, worn out tomes strewn about the place. It's nothing short of a mess as he sees it, but to Sere it's more than likely an organized mess. He knows how her mind wanders and never rests, even when they are idle like this.

Sere in his lap while he held her hands. They're tinier than his, and found himself tracing the lines, knuckles and palms of her hands. His chin rest atop her head, between her ears, which twitched every now and then, most notably when he sighed or shifted in his spot. Sometimes they twitched as the fire crackled.

Her hands are riddled with scars, small and large. They are all but testaments to battles, minus the one on her right index finger. He rubbed it gently. This one is because she fumbled cutting vegetables when they were younger. He remembered because he's the one who patched her up and sat there with her when Alberic chastised her to be more careful. 

But, the rest, as far as he knows, are from battles old and new. Scars and burns from the battle against Nidhogg where she prevailed and he fell, and then against...him. Estinien frowned. While the battle has long since settled he ran his fingers along a particular scar on her palm shaped like an explosive flower. He has left his mark and this wound would not fade.

His fingers trace her palms, across calloused skin and faded white stripes painted along her arms. Where there are no words, there are soft touches along the hand and the soft sighs between them. Of course, Sere's tail is there too as it curled lazily around his leg.

Estinien slid his fingers between hers almost feeling nostalgic remember how these soft hands of hers have held spears, tended the wounded and saved so many. 

"You cease to amaze me," Sere's ears wiggled at his words. She squeezed his hands as if to ask what he meant. Estinien continued to play with her fingers while his eyes focused on the fire burning bright.

"For hands so small, so soft, you have slain many, roused armies, and brought others from the brink. Truly, you are remarkable."

Sere, at first only squeezed his hands, but found her voice, small and uncharacteristically weak.

"But," she began, "for all those I have saved. There are those I couldn't…" She paused, and her shoulders shook as if she remembered all of those faces, and of one particular face.

"I haven't saved everyone. I can't."

"Of course not," his words are quick, matter of fact. She is but one person, his partner is only one person, not an army, not a goddess here to save all of Eorzea, and not someone to carry a burden so great on her back alone. 

"You are but one person. You can't save everyone." 

Estinien released her hands and wrapped her up in a tight hug. He squeezed her close against his chest. Her hands touched his forearms as his warm cheek pressed against hers. Sere hiccuped. 

"But you saved me, didn't you?"

Sere is without words for him but the way she shook gave him an idea of the words and motions swirling through her head. Estinien kept her close, and took her hands again. He pressed his lips to each palm. Sere is not one for many words and so she hid her face against his chest, her shoulders shook, and her voice quiet and weepy as she stained his chest with her hot tears.

Estinien is careful, for once, as he thumbed away her tears. The look in her eyes made his stomach churn and heart squeeze. It's the same sight he woke up not too long ago, a grief stricken miqo'te worried she had lost another person so dear so quickly after two others. But here he remained, and again he found himself brushing the tears from her eyes and smoothing out white messy hair.

Even if he cannot take the hurt away, even if he cannot chase away the pain, or make the world stop for just a moment. He can be a reminder to her of the good she has done the people she has saved and that she is human. She doesn't have to take on the world, but only take on the day. 

He can remind her it's okay to cry, to be tired of the words of others and her endless burdens she carries. It's okay, because he will be here and he will hold and indulge her through it.


End file.
